New York City - Part Two

I am finally digesting what I did and learned on my trip to New York City.   I was privileged to visit Cornell University Cooperative Extension - New York City (CUCE-NYC) as I have mentioned in previous posts.  I want to acknowledge the amazing schedule that the team of Jackie Davis Manigaulte, Eduardo Gonzales Jr. and Michele Luc developed for the two days I spent with them in their office on East 34th St.  It was so good to speak with them in groups and as individuals and to get a good sense of what they are doing in New York City.  The parts of the visit that really stood out for me were the meetings, both in groups and individually with CUCE-NYC staff, collaborators and young people.  My memories are jumbled as I tumbled from one meeting into the next so this writing will be helpful.

It was good to start my visit with a Meet and Greet so people could get to know me and I could put names to faces.  I was delighted to be rushed off to visit KC Wagner who I wrote about earlier and then join the group for lunch.  We seemed to do lots of eating while in New York City and it was balanced each day by lots of walking!  A good balance for me.

I was able to spend time with two of the EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) community educators, Marta and Gloria, who shared about the work they do in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.  I was astounded that they take their rolling carts of program materials on the busy NYC subway trains to get to their locations.  I never saw an elevator at any of the stations so I am imagining that they had to drag those materials up and down the stairs at each station.  They try not to do more than one site per day because of the time it takes to transport themselves and their materials.

Marta Garcia and Gloria Morel, CUCE-NYC EFNEP

Marta and Gloria excitedly showed me some of the props they use.  Prominent in the foreground are five samples that represent the bacteria that grows on meat that is defrosted improperly.  I took a close up so my colleagues in Bellingham can see what can be created to demonstrate food safety issues.  None of what you see is real meat. The samples were made with clay and lentils.  These samples got my attention and it has been a successful strategy in changing home food safety practices and health outcomes of family members according to some of the stories Marta and Gloria shared.

Gloria and Marta told me that among the newer immigrants to New York City are the Mexican immigrants who have come from the state of Puebla.  They were serving them through their program.  I asked them what some of the needs they saw in this community. They said they need access to health care because they do not qualify for the Affordable Healthcare Act because they are undocumented and they need to address domestic violence in that community.  When I asked Marta and Gloria about what concerns the parents were expressing they talked about a growing sense of disrespect being shown by the kids.  They attributed part of this coming from generational differences and part from environmental influences.  I heard from these fine women as I have heard from others that some youth use the threat that they will report their parents to authorities if they enforce discipline (fair or not).  "Parents need to understand the laws and know how not to give away their power."  The parents are very concerned about the focus shift from traditional values of respect and family to more material values.  I have found the nutrition education staff who work with the families and who are embedded in the communities to be great sources of insight in Arizona, California and New York City.

I think I will stop here for today.  Mike and I are going to a performance of the Mariachi Divas at our Mount Baker Theater this evening.  There will be food, drink and lots of people celebrating what is essentially an American Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo.  It seems like an appropriate way to honor my focus on Latino life in this country.   Interestingly, the battle 5th of May honors was fought in the state of Puebla.   The Mount Baker is a classic theater built in 1927.  It is a beautiful place to see a show and so much bigger than the theater on Broadway where we saw "It's Only a Play."  I encourage you to check out the website and to view some of the photos of this grand theater.

Rhodies in my neighborhood in all their May glory.  

Thanks for reading!

More NorCal Reflections

My last visit in California before we headed north was with Dr. Lucia Kaiser.  Lucia is an Extension Nutrition Specialist with University of California at Davis and is in the final stages of her career at UC.  I was somewhat familiar with Dr. Kaiser's work having seen it highlighted at professional meetings.  I had never met her before and was charmed by her warmth and her commitment to her current project.  I was glad I had the opportunity to interview her.

Lucia in her office.

Her project focuses on delivering messages about parenting and obesity prevention to newly immigrated residents of the Central Valley in a rural area near Fresno.  About 400 parents are involved in the study and only about half participate. About 79% are Mexican immigrants and there is a fairly low acculturation level in the group.  Some of the things they are learning are that parenting around food is a difficult thing to influence, especially when the cultural norms are different from those being taught.  The more hands on, the more impact on and involvement of the students.  They have gone to having a promotora teaching hands on cooking classes and moved away from some of the more didactic classes. They also have formed a walking club to promote physical activity.  This fits with what we have experienced as well.   Lucia shared that the mothers are getting mixed messages about the obesity risk their children face.  They are using health report cards to share with the parents weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) information.  Lucia was not understanding why the report cards were not really influencing behavior until she dug a little deeper.  The area physicians were advising the parents not to worry, not to put their kids on diets and were assuring them they would "grow out" of their fat stage.  This is a common concern in our country and it speaks to the need to help the medical community understand the importance of non-diet interventions for children.  I am working on a study that is focusing on helping both parents and preschoolers understand about satiety and becoming aware of their cues for satisfaction and fullness.  Lucia and her team took a community awareness approach and used simple graphic examples to compare the obesity rates in the general population and in the targeted community.

The color of the folders represent obesity rates in the normal population and then the targeted community. Green represents normal weight, yellow, at risk and red obese.  The comparisons between the right side (average population) and the targeted community (left) speak for themselves.

The parents were able to see the differences and Lucia reported that the "lights went on" (my words).

Lucia hopes to continue this work in a consulting role in other communities after she retires this fall.

We had a very interesting discussion about the role of trauma in her study community and in the immigrant community as a whole.  I have been asking about trauma all along the way on this trip and about teen parents and the status in each community where I have made program visits.  I shared my experience of visiting with the women in the Kino women's shelter in Nogales, Sonora.  I shared what I learned about the high incidence of rape for women who attempt the border crossing.  Lucia and I shared tears.  It was good to see that she was not hardened to the reality of what was happening.  She spoke about rape as well.  She has colleagues in school of nursing who are finding rape is an issue with teens and that some of the evidence points to the field workers.  I am concerned about the culture of sexual assault that is created by the inhumane conditions on the borders and during the journeys through both Mexico and the US.  I know it is compounded by impoverished lives folks are forced to lead and the shadows in which many exist.   I am aware that the fear of reporting a rape can be exacerbated by fear of the law, immigration issues, cultural silence about rape.  It is not a good situation.  This was not the first time I heard concerns about sexual assault of young Latinas on the trip.  

I cannot help but think that the trauma exists at the community level and is exemplified in a variety of ways.  I wonder how much trauma, post traumatic stress and the threat of loss and grief affects the choices people are making about food and their weight? Good questions to which I do not have the answers.  To assume that there is no impact would be a mistake.  Lots to think about.

I am almost half way through this sabbatical and I have more questions than I have answers.  I suspect this is part of the process.  I am certainly learning a great deal so far and look forward to the next 3 months.  I will continue to blog.  I am finding it very helpful for my own learning.  One of the gifts of this time away from my normal duties is having the time to reflect and process.  I have always enjoyed journaling and I am finding a renewed energy for that in this blog.  Upcoming is a trip to Arizona, a trip to New York City, work with a colleague and scholar in Oregon and time to start working on fund proposals for our Fortaleciendo Familias program revision.

Thanks for reading.

Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services Visit

Creating programs based on the needs of the community is a wonderful strategy for successful outcomes.  I have seen many programs based on community need over the years.  Sometimes they are successful and sometimes they fail for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes the organizational structure is not strong enough to support the program, sometimes the personnel change and the new personnel are not a good fit for the service and sometimes the vision for service is linked to one dedicated individual who is not able to sustain the program.  

I found several examples of thriving non-profits on my travels.  Two I have already written about - No More Deaths in Tucson and The Bethlehem Center in Visalia.  I was delighted to visit the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services Agency at their Oak Park Center on March 17th.  Mike and I were warmly greeted by Lorena Carranza, who is the Parent Education Program Manager at the Oak Park facility and the parent educator for the most of the classes delivered there.

Lorena Carranza
Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services

I was really happy that I took the time to visit this agency. Their mission statement reads: Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS) is dedicated to assisting those in need by alleviating their immediate pain and problems and moving them toward self-sufficiency and financial independence.  I encourage you to visit their website to learn more about the agency.  It was their website that caught my attention when I was searching for places that were offering parent education in Spanish in the Sacramento and Yolo County areas.  

The agency was started as a Food Bank by Father Daniel Madigan in 1976 in the basement of his Oak Park Church.  It is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit agency and is affiliated with the local Catholic Archdiocese in some way.  It was a revelation to me to see the deep connection between the Catholic Church and the Latino immigrant populations in California.  It should not have surprised me but it did.  What I know of Washington State and the communities in Western Washington that I have served over the years is that the church was not as responsive to early waves of immigrants.  Perhaps that is related to the more migratory stream that used to populate our agriculture industry.  I remember serving a community in SW Washington where there were two catholic sisters( nuns) who were community based working with Latinos and other faith communities were filling the gap.  All sorts of denominations were involved.  I was surprised at the time about what one of the sisters referred to as a crisis within the church that the Mexican immigrants were not being served and were basically being abandoned by the church.  Part of the lack of service was probably due to a shortage of Spanish speaking priests.  This was in the mid-1990's.  I still wonder if that is why we see so much religious diversity amongst our immigrant population or if that diversity is everywhere.  

Fr. Madigan was clearly a perceptive servant leader.  He noticed a number of single mothers in the food bank lines and began a Mother-Baby program in 1992.  Mothers could come to classes at the center.  If they attended at least one class a month, they would be eligible for a monthly distribution of diapers, clothing and formula.  There were 8 classes a month offered, all on the same topic, 4 in Spanish and 4 in English.  All were focused on caring for children from birth to 2 years. SFBFS found out people wanted more when they did focus groups in 2011.   They asked Spanish, Russian and English groups of parents what they wanted and why they were not drawing fathers.   All groups asked for more topics, and to extend the topics to cover children up to age 5.  SFBFS changed the name to Parent Education Classes and now offer specific workshops for fathers.

The bulletin board with all the classes/workshops listed.

Lorena had just finished teaching a stress management class in Spanish when we arrived.  It was one of 11 workshops that would be available that week.  Lorena shared with us that parents still earn points that they can trade for baby/child clothes, supplies and diapers when they attend classes.  I love the relevant incentives.  When parents come, all the children spend time in the well equipped and engaging nursery and preschool area.  One of the weekly offering is Story Time for parents and their little ones.  Lorena reported that about seventy percent of the parents who come to the center are Latino and of those a large majority are undocumented.  Lorena shared that SFBFS under the auspices of Catholic Charities of Sacramento is offering six workshops this spring on DAPA, the executive order that offers Deferred Action for Parental Arrivals.  Lorena reported that there was a great deal of hope and excitement in the community she serves and in her agency around DAPA.

Lorena gave us a tour of the Oak Park Center.  The building is lovely.  It holds space for children, youth and parents to learn together.  It houses afters school programs, a teaching garden, classrooms for English learning, computer classrooms for adults and youth, the clothing bank for the parenting program, administrative offices and early learning spaces.  I was really impressed by the comprehensive range of services that grew out of a church basement food bank.  

The garden space

I was even more impressed by Lorena and her poise and commitment.  She moved to Sacramento as a newly married young women from Monterrey, Mexico.  Her husband was offered a job because of his unique skills.  She did not know English when she arrived.  A twist of fate led her to learn what she called "hospital" English because of a condition with which her daughter was born.  Lorena spent a lot of time in and out of medical centers with her daughter during her early years.  When she was declared well, Lorena came to the SFBFS to enroll in English classes and she has stayed ever since. Her English is beautiful.  The agency is obviously part of her extended family.  She has been on staff for over seven years.  Lorena talked about the stress of moving to a different country and having to adapt without family nearby.  She teaches stress courses at the center.  I imagine she is amazing because she has learned how to overcome stress in her own life.  I believe this is an incredible gift to the families who come to the center and would be good for all of the families we want to serve.  My journey has made me so  much more aware of the trauma associated with immigration, especially for those who are undocumented.  Speaking with Lorena and Jose in Tucson also reminded me that stress, trauma and grief are also present for those who immigrate legally or who are born to immigrant parents.  This gives me much food for thought as I think about what to add to our lessons.

As Mike and I drove away felt deep gratitude for the gifts SFBFS was giving the community and for the gift of time and presence they gave me on my visit!

Thanks for reading!

Central Valley and NorCal

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I love green, in nature, in clothes, in paintings and quilts, and yes, the color of my eyes has always given me a pass on this day.  We have left the desert and are in a greener part of California.  We are in Davis, home of the University of California (UC) at Davis.  I learned it was originally a branch of the the original University of California at Berkeley.  It was started just as an agricultural branch and has grown up over the years into a lovely campus and town.  In my world of Extension UC Davis is considered one of the premier Land Grant Universities.  The Cooperative Extension offices here are large.  Most are populated with multiple agricultural advisors and there are a few others mixed in.  There are 58 counties in this behemoth state and only scattering of advisors who focus on families by offering nutrition and food security programs.  UC Cooperative Extension has both EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) and SNAP-ED (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, formerly know as Food Stamp Education Program Education).  I met with Cathi Lamp and her wonderful team members, Mariana Lopez and Teresa Rios-Spicer, while I was in Tulare County last week.  Yesterday I met with Marcel Horowitz and Sonia Fernandez in Yolo County.  I also met with David Ginsburg, manager for CalFresh/SNAP-ED at the state office.   They run a large program and have over 100 full time staff delivering direct education at the local level.

Cathi, Mariana and Teresa
Tulare County

Sonia, Drew and Marcel posing in front of the soil samples.
Yolo County

There are some interesting things happening in California.  There are large threats to the environment and agriculture from the on-going (fourth year) drought.  All along CA-99 there are large signs about the need for water to help farms survive.  The visible reminders remind all that there is a real threat.  The drought impacts all levels of life here.  Signs in the bathrooms in Davis remind people not to run water while lathering ones hands with soap.  Carefully turn it on and off as needed.  There is less work for the farm workers.  Marcel expected fewer people to show up in the Migrant Camps this year.  One person referred to the San Joaquin Valley as the Dust Bowl.  I had no idea if that was intentional or not.  Yesterday I heard that food prices will increase, people are painting their lawns green and that there are major issues between SoCal and NorCal as the locals refer to the 2 parts of the state about who and what gets the water resource.   So, for now, it is green and lush.  But how long will that last?  How long until the landscape is brown and withered because the water isn't available?  What crops will not be able to be planted.  Will there be a major migration to wetter areas of the country akin to that experienced in the 1930's?

The issues for the undocumented residents seems less urgent here.  Maybe because the population is so rich in Latino families and traditions.  There are some concerns for the safety of the undocumented, especially the parents and children.  When I spoke to my colleagues at the local extension offices they were aware that a number of the people they serve are undocumented.  They do not count (not do we) and they offer education in safe, familiar  places with bi-lingual bi-cultural staff as teachers.  I think the issue of immigration injustice is less pressing in the Central Valley and NorCal than the threat of the drought.  It is not ignored but it is not pressing.  Once people get this far north they settle in and are part of the landscape.

Where I saw more rawness and connection to the issue was at the Bethlehem Center in Visalia.  A faith based NGO that is under the wing of the Catholic Church in Visalia, the Bethlehem Center provides meals, two a day five days a week, some case management, a food pantry and a thrift store for low income and homeless residents of Visalia and the surrounding area.  I met with Benny Rodriguez and Lucio Pulido to talk about their services and to tour their facility.  Benny and Lucio told me that only about 10 percent of their families who come for meals are undocumented (estimated).  Benny shared with me an interesting fact.  In the point of time homeless count for Tulare and Kings Counties combined - 44% live in Visalia.  He said that only 2 children were counted in the last count.  He thinks that the children are hidden during the time for fear of having them taken away.  He also feels that the condition of being undocumented and homeless combined may be compounding the count.  I know that in my county the percent of homeless children is about 27%.

Benny shared with me that Dignity and Respect are the core principles for service at Bethlehem Center.  He spoke about a committee he formed - Voice of the Community.  They asked six of their homeless clients to assess the services at Bethlehem Center.  They told him they wanted more razors in their personal care kits, they wanted AA/NA groups at the center and they wanted inspirational art on the walls of the soup kitchen.  All have been added at the center.   Benny and Lucio excitedly brought out a print that has been used as the source for a mural on the wall.  Christ in the Breadlines was created by Fritz Eichenberg in 1953.  The image is powerful in its woodblock print form and also on the wall with some edits.  The people in the center report that they see themselves in the mural.  A homeless client at the center is the muralist and is also in the finishing stages of a Last Supper mural on the opposite long wall.  I was moved.

Panorama photo of the Christ in the Breadline mural

Benny Rodriguez, Director
Bethlehem Center

I was really glad I visited Tulare County.  I have more to share later.  For now, I will stop and get ready for today's visits and one more day in beautiful Davis, a town full of art!

Shovel Gate
The artist used over 400 used shovels to create this gate that marks one of the entrances to the Davis Arboretum.

Thanks for reading!

Santa Cruz County Visit - Part One

Greetings from Portal Arizona!  We are staying with friends Barbara and Ron who live in an amazing straw bale home very near Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains.  It is beautiful here.  We are about seven miles from the New Mexico state line.   It is a wonderful respite after a very busy week in Arizona.

After we left Borderlinks we drove to Rio Rico, a town near the Nogales border where we spent three nights at the Esplendor Resort.  The resort had a great pool, comfortable room and really poor internet connection.  I am spoiled and it cost us a pretty penny on extra data from our carrier to create a hotspot.  We moved back to Tucson a day earlier.

I had a wonderful visit with staff and programs of University of Arizona Santa Cruz County Cooperative Extension.  The irony is that I came from the border county of Whatcom in Washington to the border county of Santa Cruz.  Many thanks to Darcy Dixon and her fine staff for hosting me and for inviting me into their programs.  I had really good conversations with Darcy, her staff and some of the parents they serve in their Family Resource Centers.

Darcy and Drew, Border to Border County Directors

The first folks I met with were the nutrition educators, all of whom are deeply connected to the community.

Sonia, Alma and Melody

We had a wonderful conversation and I was able to get their insights into what they perceived as the needs in their community.  They told me that there was a great need for education about domestic and sexual violence.  The border can be very unsafe for women, especially those trapped by being undocumented, whether they are in transit or long term residents.  They told me that many of the undocumented women with whom they are familiar, come in a with a day pass and just do not return.  They have babies here and so qualify for housing and other benefits through their children.   One of the concerns from our parents in Washington is being able to address teen sexuality and prevention of early pregnancy.  I feel like I opened a Pandora's box with that topic on my two days of visits.  I heard many different opinions about teen pregnancy in the Nogales area and what needs to be done to help reduce the rates of 15-16 year olds who are having babies.  (Some of what I heard reminded me of work I had done over 20 years ago in Thurston County.  I was involved in a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition.  The big concern then was that girl from a rural town saw pregnancy as socially desirable and an end goal for the future.)  More than one person stated that no sex education is being taught in the schools and they perceived that the young people do not even understand the simple biology.  Many said that it is not part of the traditional culture to speak of sex, reproduction or sexuality and that parents feel that if they bring the topic up, their youth will want to experiment.  Others reported that there are some folk superstitions that people invoke that make them believe they cannot get pregnant.  I heard from more than one person that it is very socially acceptable to have babies early and that it is viewed as an acceptable aspiration both by the youth peer culture and by some of the parents.  We met a young woman who is a single mom at one of the family resource centers who had two children and one on the way.  She lives at home and her parents are very supportive and involved in raising her children.  It seems very normalized in some of the Latino families.

I also had the opportunity to meet and speak with an Abuela (grandmother) at a Family Resource Center who is helping raise her 16 month old granddaughter.

Arlene, Delia and Armida
Nogales Family Resource Center

Delia had very strong values and expectations for her daughter.  She agreed to have the daughter  and granddaughter live with her as long as her daughter stays in school, works to support her daughter and (I think) does not have any more children until she is through with school.  The daughter is a junior in high school and was just short of her 16th birthday when she gave birth.  Delia reported that she is not happy about the high expectations her mother has because most of her friends who are also young parents are allowed to "be kids" while their parents take over the raising of their children.  Delia was taking a class for parents of toddlers and was taking home the information and teaching her daughter, daughter-in-law and other abuelas she knows.  She is a multiplier of the best kind.  She meets on Wednesdays and Sundays to transmit what she has learned to her family members.  She is very serious about impacting her community and the lives of the parents, grandparents and the young children in their lives.

Arlene in the picture above was raised in Nogales, went to university and earned two degrees.  She is a stay at home mom and comes to the center for intellectual stimulation and companionship.  Armida is a dedicated foster parent who is enhancing her skill set to better serve the high needs and challenging children she has placed in her home and is helping other foster parents develop skills they can use.  All of them spoke of the need for young people to develop a vision for the future.  It was my honor to meet with these women and the staff.

I have more stories to tell about my visit to Santa Cruz County but will stop for today.  It is Saturday evening and I am ready for rest.

Thanks for reading.

Brief Detour to Houston

I took a whirlwind trip to Houston Texas this week to do training for a multi-state grant I am working on:  Promoting Healthy Eating and Activity in Low-Income African-American and Latino Preschoolers: A Family Focused Prevention Program.  The project is a coordinated effort between faculty at Washington State University, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Colorado and North Carolina State University.  Houston surprised me.  It is known for its urban medical center (and I do not mean one).  The medical complex is huge with beautiful skyscraper-like hospitals and medical education and research facilities.  I had a wonderful walk on Tuesday. Here are some of my the things I saw.

Mascot of Rice University.  I took a long walk around the campus which was very near where I stayed -I enjoyed the sites there and the imagery of the Rice Owls.  There was a clever campaign that reminded us that OWL is part of the word KnOWLedge.  Owls are also symbols of wisdom, to say nothing of their fame in the Harry Potter Universe.  I loved  it!

The football stadium in the background frames the site of these two bike riders on a training ride around a track that was cleverly built in the stadium parking lot.  It was good to see multi-use for this land.  There were people exercising all around the University.  Runners, walkers, soccer players, and more.  These bike riders caught my attention because my dear husband Mike is a cyclist and I wanted to have pictures to share.   He always asks me about what kind of bikes the people I see are riding.  I noticed after I took the shot (see my shadow?) that the rear rider has one leg.  He was doing an admirable job of pedaling.  I wondered how he lost his leg and thought how lucky he was to be in a place with so much support for medical technology and rehabilitation.

Another surprise in Houston (which my colleague who was born and raised there tells me that the county is very progressive).  This sign was in the window of a humble and interesting import shop near Rice.  I think part of my journey of this sabbatical is deconstructing stereotypes.  That happened to me last year when Mike and I traveled to China.  Perhaps it is the result of traveling with both eyes wide open.

This fellow was waiting for me at Houston International Airport.  Houston is of course one of the main NASA centers and I guess the cow is the representative of Texas. The cow looked tome like she belonged in a dairy herd in beautiful Whatcom County.  A Holstein in space????  This made me smile and made Houston seem more approachable.

I am excited to post more about my work and look forward to writing soon.

Thanks for reading.